


perfect creep score

by markerlimes (sunmi)



Category: League of Legends RPF
Genre: Canon Compliant, Friends to Lovers, Internet, Long-Distance Friendship, M/M, Professional Gaming, Rivalry, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-23
Updated: 2015-10-23
Packaged: 2018-04-27 06:01:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5036554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunmi/pseuds/markerlimes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Seungbin isn't jealous, really. What Deft and Rekkles have going on is completely different than what he and Hyukkyu have going on and have had going on since imp and Deft made it on the pro-gaming scene. Hyukkyu's with him in China anyways, suck it Sweden. But it still doesn't change the fact that...</p><p>“Hey,” Seungbin repeats. He pushes the side of Hyukkyu’s chair, spinning him over so that they’re facing each other and shoves the phone in Hyukkyu’s face, a little too vindictive for how cheerful he looks.</p><p>“Who the fuck is Martin?”</p>
            </blockquote>





	perfect creep score

**Author's Note:**

> I...I have nothing to say in my defense for this. I really don't. All I can really say is that it started out as simple research for a pro-gaming au and at some point it became actual pro-gaming fic u_______u lots and lots of creative liberties were taken in terms of the timeline of this fic, but everything matches with the regular splits/seasons. 
> 
> aaaaand, I made [a primer for those of you interested](http://markerlimes.livejournal.com/11054.html)...just in case. u_________u
> 
> title references a [ league of legends term ](http://leagueoflegends.wikia.com/wiki/Farming) that is used to gauge how well a player is doing against their opponent. a million thanks to [ kalopsia ](http://archiveofourown.org/users/girltalk/pseuds/kalopsia) for sitting through my mad descent through hell and betaing <3

 

It’s off-season, or as close to off-season as Hyukkyu is ever going to get.

The outside air is muggy for early March and try as he might, Hyukkyu’s still not used to the whole hustle and bustle of Shanghai. It’s only been half a year since he’s left Korea for greener (much _greener_ ) pastures- and in his defense the majority of that half-year had been spent in tournaments or, predictably, on training.

So the obvious solution for Hyukkyu is to stay in the gaming house all day and do what he does best: play League of Legends for a measly 8 hours instead of the regular 16.

Today happens to be Seungbin’s day off too. Which is why Seungbin has opted to take an hour long ride from Hangzhou to Shanghai and hang off Hyukkyu’s shoulder, watching him slaughter some poor opposing teams on ranked battles.

All in all it’s a pretty normal day, especially considering that he and Seungbin have been through two whole company restructures, migrated to completely new country, and _still_ somehow manage to land in this same, precarious position. But then Seungbin peers over his shoulder, squinting a little. “Hey.”

“Hey what?” Hyukkyu has his target locked on the opponent’s Tristana, ready to fire his ultimate when Seungbin taps him again.

Hyukkyu flinches, arm pulling back and he misses the shot. The spell goes wide, just skimming the enemy hitbox and he spins around ready to throw something at Seungbin for distracting him when he finally notices the texts flashing from his own phone that has somehow found its way into Seungbin’s hand.

“Give that back,” Hyukkyu grits out. He keeps his eyes trained to his computer screen and then adds for good measure. “Hyung.”

Seungbin just grins.  It’s physically impossible to play with one hand and taking even a finger off the mouse in the middle of a team fight could mean instant death. The worst part is, Seungbin knows. He knows that Hyukkyu’s in the middle of a ranked game and that there’s no better place to corner him when his lane is being pushed.

“Hey,” Seungbin repeats forcibly. He pushes the side of Hyukkyu’s chair, spinning him over so that they’re facing each other and shoves the phone in Hyukkyu’s face, a little too vindictive for how cheerful he looks.

“Who the fuck is _Martin_?”

 

\---

 

In 2013, Martin didn’t exist. Or rather, Hyukkyu is sure that a Martin Larsson did exist somewhere in the outskirts of Europe on some magical icy kingdom known as Sweden, but not to the world at large, not to the internet, and certainly less to Hyukkyu himself.

Back when 2013 first started, Hyukkyu himself had barely been Deft yet. Deft had been a simple gamertag and League of Legends had only been a hobby, although growing into a fast and steady obsession. He’d still been in school, sneaking off to internet cafes instead of the library to play ranked with his friends and dread the idea of college and prep school. His parents weren’t too sold on the idea of eSports in general because- _what respectable son doesn’t finish school and go to college?_

For Seungbin, the start of 2013 had been spent hungry and aggressive as a rookie on the competitive scene, ready to eat the world alive. There was nothing to his name, nothing riding in the balance when he picked up kill after kill and still remained unknown. 

Yet by the end of the year, Seungbin had been wearing white and Hyukkyu himself had been in blue, the two of them playing under the same roof for Samsung. They had stood on stage in front of a crowd of thousands- millions more online- and watched their rivals, SK Telecom, snatch the World Championship away in front of the world's eyes. Together they'd witnessed the shift of power fall away from North America and the world's anticipation draw upon Korea, a rewarding experience in and of itself despite going home empty handed. 

On the plane ride back, Seungbin didn't sleep. Neither did Hyukkyu, not with the way the excitement and hunger churned together- creating the inexplicable urge to start winning and winning the minute they touched ground back in Korea even though the season had just ended. While Martin was still half-way across the world from him, Seungbin had always been a reliable two doors down the hallway that Hyukkyu could always count on for an early morning round of solo queue or late night cup ramen.

By all means in 2013, there had only been Seungbin and Hyukkyu and the rest of the talented, albeit dysfunctional, Samsung house- and Seungbin would have preferred to keep it that way, if it weren’t for the EU servers picking up traction again and then of course,  _Martin_.

 

\---

 

"Martin," Hyukkyu answers blankly, twisting his torso around to look back at the screen behind him. "He's a friend."

Hyukkyu gets up from the chair to re-position himself on it, knees tucked in and shoulders hunched over. It's bad posture, but hey, it's his day off. He puts his hand back on the mouse, resting his chin on the back of the chair when Seungbin rolls the chair back away from the table and Hyukkyu finds himself helplessly watching as the enemy champion ganks him. 

"A friend?" Seungbin shoots him a suggestive look. 

The death timer gives him a good 30 seconds to do nothing but glare at Seungbin's shit-eating grin. "He's Rekkles."

"Rekkles?" Seungbin repeats and then lets out a sharp bark of laughter. "Wait like European Deft, Rekkles from Fnatic, the dude telling everyone-" Seungbin pitches his voice up into the stratosphere, whining. "I'm Deft's number one fan~ I'd be his boytoy if he'd let me~"

"Shut up," Hyukkyu answers tonelessly. He places his fingers back on the keyboard and Seungbin yanks him back by the back of his collar.  "How'd you two get so close? Did he suck your dick at Worlds this year?"

"N-No," Hyukkyu says, mouse clicking a mile a minute. "He's nice and we're friends. We just talk about League. The meta and champions in Europe versus here. We share tips on how to..."

He trails off in the face of Seungbin's cooing noises. "That's fucking adorable." 

"You're such a jerk." Hyukkyu watches numbly as the enemy team swarms into the blue base and his team chat explodes with expletives. He flips the computer screen off and presses the heel of his palm into his eyes. Ever the opportunist, Seungbin tugs him to his feet and starts steering him towards the doorway and Hyukkyu sees him tiptoe to get the entirety of his arm over Hyukkyu's shoulder.

"But you love it," Seungbin goads and pushes his face into Hyukkyu's neck, too close like always.  "Now let's go grab some dinner."

 

\---

 

Dinner turns out to be a heap of fried chicken from the KFC down the block and a couple bottles of soju Seungbin sneaks back under his jacket.

"It's fine if you drink here," Hyukkyu says watching Seungbin stealthily pull out a bottle. "They're not going to kick you out."

"I know. I know." Seungbin hands him a shot glass and pours himself one eagerly. "I just feel like I have to be careful. Being on enemy turf and all."

"It's not enemy turf," Hyukkyu protests, but to be technical- it kind of is. EDG and LGD are far from eternal enemies, the way Samsung White and SKT were, but at the same time they can't quite treat this like living under the same Samsung house anymore. It still feels familiar though, even with how different things are now. Seungbin still makes him pour the soju and then after deciding that Hyukkyu pours too slowly, starts drinking straight from the second bottle. 

It's dark outside by the time they finish off dinner. Seungbin's sprawled out on the floor, practically passed out if not for the occasional comment on Hyukkyu's laning technique over the course of three games.

It's late. Martin is probably awake again now from his nap, half-way across the world and 6 hours behind Hyukkyu. The usual course of habit is for him to get up early with the sun just barely rising over the Shanghai harbor, so they can chat  before Martin heads to bed. Hyukkyu pulls out his phone, a little wary at the way Seungbin's eyes suddenly flicker open to track his every movement. 

He shoots Seungbin a look. "Why are you even still here?" 

Seungbin shrugs. Hyukkyu's not even sure if Seungbin has bought a ticket back home to Hangzhou. He walks over to nudge Seungbin's side with a socked foot, unsurprised when there's no response. He's not exactly opposed to Seungbin passing out on right here on his floor, it's happened plenty of times back in Korea, but Hyukkyu just has to make sure that he's not going to face any charges from LGD for kidnapping their prized AD carry when he wakes up in the morning. 

"Aren't you going to take the train home?" Hyukkyu asks, as he stretches out on top of his bed, feeling the tension bleed out from his shoulders and onto the sheets. 

"Nah," Seungbin replies, slowly rising to his knees to prop himself up against the edge of the bed. "I think I'm good here."

"You're on enemy turf," Hyukkyu points out and when Seungbin doesn't respond he returns his attention back to his phone. "Suit yourself."

He tunes into Martin's stream, placing his phone on mute and just content enough to watch the game. The silence lasts all of 15 seconds before Seungbin bursts back to life. 

"Hey don't ignore me," Seungbin protests. He flops down onto the bed right next to Hyukkyu. "Play with hyung."

He wiggles himself to the center of the bed, pressed up against Hyukkyu's side. "Are you texting that Rekkles-guy?"

"I'm not," Hyukkyu lies weakly. Seungbin capitalizes on his momentary weakness to yank the phone out of his hand. In the relative darkness of the room, Hyukkyu can see the reflection of the messenger app reflected in Seungbin's glasses.

"Martin..." He reads with an air of disbelief. He spits out the name with a sting of disdain. "He lets you call him _Martin_?"

"That's his name," Hyukkyu answers tonelessly. "I'm not going to go around all day calling him Reckkles."

"All day?" Seungbin lifts a brow and scoots in closer. Every centimeter he leans in results in Hyukkyu backing up over a meter until his back is pressed up against the headboard. 

"So you just call him Martin?" Seungbin keeps tugging on his shirt, persistent. "That's fucking cute. It took you years to stop calling me imp."

"Only one," Hyukkyu shoots back. He makes an effort to climb off the bed, only to be toppled back onto his side as Seungbin pulls him down with a laugh. "I miss it when you used to go around our house calling me imp hyung. It was so cute."

"You're so creepy," Hyukkyu replies stoically, but a tipsy Seungbin is hard to deter. He latches onto Hyukkyu's side, giggling. "Say it for hyung." 

Hyukkyu's not drunk enough for this. Not nearly flustered enough to be pressured so easily anymore. He watches Seungbin grin edge in closer and closer until Hyukkyu can practically smell the soju on his breath. 

"Say it. Repeat after me," Seungbin slurs. He pulls a hand up and pins Hyukkyu's wrist down on the bed. "Imp hyung! Imp hyung~"

"No." He pushes Seungbin off of him and makes a show of dusting off his jacket. "Go home hyung, you're drunk."

"Yes," Seungbin agrees, but then adds a little melancholy for his usual demeanor. "But you can still call me imp hyung."

"No thanks," Hyukkyu replies without missing a beat and walks over to boot up his computer again. He pushes down on the power button, stifling a smile as Seungbin groans from back on the bed-

"How in the world do you even make friends with that charming personality of yours?" 

 

\---

 

It started simply enough. Between the spam about joining new streams and other random links that Hyukkyu knows better than to click, is a rather simple message in his streaming chatbox. It’s so simple in fact, that looking back on it, Hyukkyu is sort of amazed that he even noticed it at all.

First off, it’s in English.

Secondly, it belongs to a botname- someone anonymously streaming his channel which is generally the tell-tale sign of spam, porn sites links, and malicious malware. Yet Hyukkyu gives the message another look.

 

_[21:22 - Your Ezreal is amazing!!!!!!!!! Mind if I add you?]_

 

Hyukkyu squints at the screen a little uneasy. English isn’t his strong suit, but it’s not hard to decipher the excitement from 8 exclamation points and feel at least a little glow of pride from the praise. He puts his fingers back on the keyboard and hesitantly types out on a private chat window.

_[21:23 - hi.]_

_[21:23 - OK]_

 

The response he gets back is instant.

_[21:23 - Holy shit really? Thanks man.]_

 

Hyukkyu doesn’t know what to make of that so he defaults to-

_[21:26 - ^^]_

-which you can't really go wrong with. He right clicks on the icon and adds Streambot5623 to the privated streaming list and wonders if he should ask for a name, something a little less sketchy sounding than Streambot5623. Before he gets a chance to, the stream cuts off and with it goes the internet and Hyukkyu's got a whole new set of headaches to resolve before he gives a second thought to anything related to his brief encounter. 

It could have been a one-off kind of deal, most streamers don't come back, yet Streambot5623 becomes one of his regulars, cheering him on in the chat box in English and excitable emojis. He talks in short bursts, excitement projecting through the screen at Hyukkyu’s Ezrael plays which is nice to say the least. Not a lot of people appreciate Ezrael for all that he’s worth and Hyukkyu’s never been one to turn down a chance to geek out about runes and mastery builds.

All in all, Streambot5623 is nice to have around. He’s observant, clearly some kind of foreign prodigy. He tells Hykkhyu all sorts of little quirks about his playstyle in snippets of English that Hyukkyu stays up late to plug into an online translator so he can even understand.  It leaves him wondering if Streambot5623 has been watching him for longer than Hyukkyu’s known about his existence at all.

And then in September, Samsung buys out the entirety of MVP and Hyukkyu gets promoted to starting AD Carry for Samsung Blue. Seungbin, similarly, gets upgraded to Samsung White, but along with the name change-  Samsung White start winning and they start winning big. They come 3rd, bursting through the well-known ranks of CJ Entus Blaze and stopping just short of Faker and SK Telecom, the world champions. 

For the rest of the year, Hyukkyu’s stuck watching the back of Seungbin’s head as he wins and wins and wins. It's small matches at first followed by a string of impressive wins that silenced even the most scathing skeptics. By mid-season, no one could say it was a fluke that landed Samsung White at the head of the pack, leaving their sister squad Blue to scramble in their shadow. It leaves the atmosphere in the house tense and Hyukkyu with a small stab of bile that surprises him with how much it really stings.

He never lashes out though, none of them do. Instead he digs himself back into the basics, the pile of champions he could never get the best of Seungbin with and pulls himself back into the depths of his room, back up into the Summoner’s Rift.

He streams less. He sleeps less, and in the end, he still wins less in comparison to Seungbin who stands up on the podium again and again, smug smile in place. Hyukkyu closes out the year, empty handed and Streambot5623 becomes a mere face in the crowd, a small tick on the viewer count on the bottom right corner of his stream until Spring rolls back around.

 

\---

 

In the middle of March, Hyukkyu catches wind of a guy whose been sweeping the Western Servers under the name European Deft.  It's flattering honestly that someone that good admires Hyukkyu of all people enough to name himself after him. 

"You're too cute for your own good," Seungbin grins. He manages to pat the top of Hyukkyu's head, quite the feat. "Look at you capturing fanboy hearts across the world, over land and sea."

"It's just a name," Hyukkyu reasons, flushing as Seungbin clicks down on the links and highlights something on the screen. 

"Just a name huh?" Seungbin says gleefully. "Wanna explain why his smurf account is called _Deft's slave_?" 

"It's not like that," Hyukkyu protests, but it's too late. The name Deft's slave sticks and the entire Samsung dorm give him shit for it until he sulks for the rest of the month. Even worse, Cheonju starts worrying like a mother hen and persuades the assistant coach into giving Hyukkyu a lecture about avoiding online sexual predation. 

"I hate you so much," he tells Seungbin and Seungbin of course, just grins. 

The silver lining, the only one to be frank, is when Streambot5623 reappears for the first time in months and reveals himself as not only Deft's slave and European Deft, but as the AD Carry of Fnatic, Rekkles. Hyukkyu doesn't know much about Fnatic outside of their first Worlds Championship win , but he knows enough to know that it's a big deal. Rekkles himself is probably a big deal and the idea that he's been here all along, watching Hyukkyu stumble and struggle on his streams is mindblowing.

Rekkles takes his initial confusion all rather graciously in the same enthusiastic manner he's sported all along and it's all mostly forgiven, kind of.

The first time he talks to Rekkles, actually _as_ Rekkles, it's weird. Rekkles talks just like he did as Streambot5623 only now with the added bonus of actually showing Hyukkyu his own footage. It's never done in a gloating manner, not the way Seungbin always kept a montage of his best plays nearby. Rekkles is humble, enthusiastic as ever, like he had never shed his anonymity to Hyukkyu. 

Slowly bit, by bit, their positions reverse. 

It's Hyukkyu who starts staying up late and waking up early to catch the ending of Rekkles's stream. It's Hyukkyu leaving comments and rather deadpan emojis in the chatbox of his stream. The two of them duo queue for the first time until the sun rises for Hyukkyu and he stumbles out of his room, equal parts exhausted and elated. 

He waddles into the kitchen, blinking sleep out of his eyes as Wonseok shoots him a concerned look.  "You look awful,"

Cheonju fixes a frown on his face and brushes Hyukkyu's bangs back to place the his hand on Hyukkyu's forehead. "Is that weird guy still bothering you? Should we tell the coaches?"

Hyukkyu shakes his head, stifling the urge to roll his eyes. "It's fine. Really." He looks over the table to see Seungbin haughtily stuffing his face.

 _'Deft's slave,'_ Seungbin mouths over and Hyukkyu lobs a box of pastry snacks at his face with the intent to kill. 

He's going to have a word or two with Rekkles about his questionable naming decisions when the two of them inevitably clash in person at Worlds this year. 

 

\---

 

Of course meeting Rekkles in person is a completely different story.

Rekkles is no longer an icon on the sidebar of his chat, or a conglomeration of pixels that dances around Hyukkyu's attacks, dodging them like a ghost. 

Rekkles in person is charming, tall and handsome and his enthusiasm can no longer be contained behind a screen.  He shakes Hyukkyu's hand for a solid half-minute and then for some reason won't let go. 

"Umm." Hyukkyu is all to aware of his burning ears and the sweat clinging to his hand. 

"Wow, you're cute." Hyukkyu doesn't need fluency in English to know he's being praised, much less hit on. 

"Thank you," he replies weakly. He bows, customary politeness and all, but Rekkles just keeps staring at him like he's the most fascinating thing in the world.  "Wow," is all he says even as Hyukkyu tries to pull his hand back. "You're taller than I imagined."

Hyukkyu only catches the back half of his sentence and ironically thinks that the language barrier grows inversely to the proportion of distance between them. Hyukkyu's never had this much trouble deciphering Rekkles's English, but up close and in person- it's accented, rolling off the tongue faster than he can capture it. There's no handy screen capture for him to formulate a reply to and even more worrisome is the lack of Google translate. 

In the end he settles for smiling, the universal sign of good will and affection, and grins when Rekkles readily beams back. He's got a handsome smile too, Hyukkyu thinks and even though he's seen Rekkles smile on his video stream, it can't quite compare to the real thing. It takes Hyukkyu a while to realize that he's staring, but it doesn't feel awkward in the least bit with Rekkles staring right back- their facial expressions bridging the gap between them where words couldn't quite fit. 

"I'll see you around," Rekkles says simply like he's half in mind to sneak Hyukkyu alongside his luggage and cart him back home to Sweden. 

"Yeah," Hyukkyu nods. The idea of him moving to Europe is a far stretch, but if there's anything this half year and its strange sequence of chance happenings have taught him- it's that anything, truly _anything_ , is possible. 

\---

 

Spoiler alert: he doesn't end up in Europe. Not anywhere close. 

Samsung takes a hit in the final quarter of 2014, profits plunging over 60% and there's no question that their entire eSports branch is going to feel it. How heavy of a hit, no one knows, but Hyukkyu sees paperwork pushed around and then shortly after, resignation letters. 

There's no clear sign where all his teammates will end up, if the older hyungs will opt in for military service or retire quietly. Hyukkyu's too young for retirement, too promising they say, but no matter what the netizens push for ultimately it's China that answers the call. 

His family doesn't want him to go abroad, but money has a habit of winning out. The fact of the matter is, EDG is willing to pay him a filthy amount of money and the house is getting emptier by the day when Hyukkyu finally signs. 

The move happens fast. The news spreads faster. By mid-day Hyukkyu changes his twitter handle and closes out the browser before he can see the wave of disappointed fans. The response from the Chinese servers is explosive, but Hyukkyu isn't Hyukkyu to them. He's Deft and as Deft he has a world of expectations to fulfill, a lofty half million worth in total. 

The new house in Shanghai is larger, grander, and horribly sterile. On the first night, Hyukkyu eats alone. He soaks in the smell of a half empty box of take-out, the sound of foreign chatter around him and the loading screen of his next game- the latter the only thing that anchors his nerves together, bundling them back under his skin.

Win games, get rich, go home. If only it were that simple.  

 

\---

 

To the delight of LGD and the horror of pretty much everyone else in the Eastern Hemisphere, Seungbin follows him to China. 

 

_[09:09 - Hyukkyuuuuu~]_

\- Seungbin texts him hours after the news breaks.

 

_[09:09 - guess what!!]_

_[09:20 - fine don't guess TnT]_

_[09:23 - your favorite hyung is coming]_

_[09:25 - did you miss me?  ㅋㅋㅋ~]_

 

Hyukkyu stares at the flood of familiar Hangul, an odd sense of relief spreading through his limbs as he answers:

_[10:38 - Of course not.]_

 

_[10:39 - too bad. sorry if hyung makes you cry in china]_

_[10:40 - _ㅋㅋㅋ _ _ㅋ__ _ _ㅋ__ _ _ㅋ__ _ _ㅋ__ _ _ㅋ__ _ _ㅋ__ _ _ㅋ__ _ _ㅋ__ _ _ㅋ__ _ _ㅋ]___ _  
__

\- comes the fast reply and it's so predictable that Hyukkyu doesn't even finish reading it before he tucks his phone back into his pocket and hides a smile under his palm. 

 

\---

 

Seungbin takes twice the time Hyukkyu did to move to China and less than half the time to mope.

In fact, he seems completely unperturbed- bright-eyed and positively beaming at Hyukkyu through the Skype screen. "Wanna go grab lunch?"

"No thanks," Hyukkyu replies without looking up from his keyboard. 

"Why? Are you busy?" Seungbin shoots him a skeptical look. "Do you want to duo queue?"

"No thanks," Hyukkyu repeats. "I'm in the middle of one right now." He waits for Seungbin's whiny tone to cut him off, but none of that happens. 

"Suit yourself," Seungbin yawns instead and without another word cuts out leaving Hyukkyu back to his game and the sound of his keyboard clacking in the empty room. 

He thinks about texting Seungbin later, only to find his phone stacked with messages.

 

_[01:10 - stop ignoring hyung]_

_[01:26 - you have to eat at some point.]_

_[01:26 - grab lunch with me tomorrow. it's my day off.]_

_[01:45 - are you still talking to that rekkles guy?]_

_[01:51 - ditching your old hyung for a handsome stranger, i see...]_

 

Hyukkyu settles back on his bed, fingers tapping a quick reply before he can help himself. 

_[02:03 - rekkles isn't strange. you are stranger]_

_[02:04 -  plus he's much more handsome than you]_

_[02:04 - he's also tall and nice lol]_

 

Seungbin, predictably takes the bait, 

_[02:06 - be more obvious.]_

_[02:06 - i dare you]_

_[02:07- sigh. just because he's handsome.]_

_[02:12- men are all]_

_[02:13 - the same]_

 

At that Hyukkyu laughs. 866km later and across the East China Sea, some things never change. 

 

\---

 

Hyukkyu wakes up in the early morning with a weight pressed up on his chest. It's still dark outside, and he blinks his eyes open blearily to register Seungbin's hair tickling the edge of his neck and kicks. 

"Owww," comes the muffled reply and Hyukkyu moves to shove the lump of dead weight off him. 

"You know I have two beds right?" Hyukkyu cranes his neck to the side to see Seungbin cocooned up in his blankets pressed, too close for comfort as usual. 

"Yeah, but you're warm," Seungbin replies simply and as if that's all he has to say, drifts back off to sleep. 

It's late March, Seungbin will be on the screen opposite of him in less than a month: this time with the Chinese domestic title dangling on a thread between them.

But for now, Hyukkyu watches him curl onto his side and attempt to steal more of Hyukkyu's blankets away. 

For a brief moment, Hyukkyu debates crawling across the room over to his second bed so he can go back to sleep, but the sheets are warm and it's still early. Seungbin latches onto his side, almost telepathically in his sleep like he knows Hyukkyu is trying to leave again. It's a hopeless situation.  

He settles back down and tries to ignore the lingering warmth of Seungbin pressed up against his chest. He breathes easy, in and out. Up and down; and dreams of going back home.

 

\---  

 

They wake up long past noon in a sort of lazy haze and Hyukkyu finds out that Seungbin- as if he knew himself better after all -did book a train ticket home for the afternoon. 

"You totally planned on staying overnight didn't you," Hyukkyu corners him, hands crossed over his chest. "You're so shameless."

"I knew you wouldn't kick me out," Seungbin grins impishly. "Next time you can crash at my place.  Only an hour ride away."

"You're not worried that I'm going to spy or leave bugs?" Hyukkyu counters. Seungbin scoffs, loud and scathing. "Are you serious?"

"Don't tempt me," Hyukkyu warns. "You know EDG have the money to do it."

Seungbin's grin grows. "Then I'll be sure to give you a very thorough pat-down to make sure you don't," 

"You're disgusting." Hyukkyu draws his hand back, but he's too slow to avoid the bone crushing hug Seungbin catches him in, as strategically placed as his moves in-game. 

"But seriously," Seungbin says. "You really should come visit. Cheonju misses you too. Bring Wonseok too and then we can have a whole Samsung reunion here in China."

Hyukkyu grins. "Will that be before or after we kick your asses in the Spring Split?"

"As if," Seungbin counters. "Just come visit okay?" 

Hyukkyu nods, feeling warm at the sincerity when Seungbin suddenly frowns. 

"But don't invite your Swedish boytoy," Seungbin huffs. "Don't even think about it."

"He's not my-" Hyukkyu protests and then pauses. "Wait, are you?"

"Shut up," Seungbin says. He watches the flush flood its way into Seungbin's ears, coloring them a hint of red even as the rest of him remains remarkably unshaken. 

"Don't be jealous," Hyukkyu says quietly. He hooks his pinky on the edge of Seungbin's shirt and reels him back in. "You're still my favorite hyung."

"Titles like that aren't going to earn me money," Seungbin snarks back, but he's oddly subdued. "I'm going to need some proof."

Seungbin crosses his arms, still smug until Hyukkyu leans in. "What are you doing?"

"Do you want proof or not?" Hyukkyu asks blankly and he watches the grin drop off Seungbin's face in a flash.

He pulls back, tucking his hands in his pocket. Seungbin draws himself to his full height, still an impressive half-foot beneath Hyukkyu. "C'mon don't chicken out on me now."

Seungbin gets on his tip toes making an ugly kissy face, unwavering until Hyukkyu suddenly sucks in a breath and moves to close the distance between them. Seungbin's eyes go wide, startled. It's never struck Hyukkyu how much smaller Seungbin is than him with his aggravating attitude and larger than life persona, but suddenly he's here and tiny, dwarfed under Hyukkyu's shadow.

Before he can think it through and pull himself back- because everything about this is ridiculous and he should know better by now than to fall into Seungbin's bait- the look in Seungbin's eyes makes it impossible to. It's the same look as always, the implicit challenge in his eyes, haughty and edging Hyukkyu to reach his level. Seungbin's never been the type to wait, leaving Hyukkyu with only the chase.

Seungbin grins at his hesitation, taunt on the edge of his lips that Hyukkyu practically tastes it when he scrunches his eyes shut and finally crashes their lips together.

It's a pretty awful kiss but honestly, it's not as if Hyukkyu's getting paid half a million to learn how to properly suck face with anyone, much less his asshole of an ex-label mate. 

"Satisfied?" Hyukkyu asks. Seungbin gives him a dazed look, glassy behind his glasses, before bouncing back to his regular self. "Actually, no. That sort of sucked." He purses his lips thoughtfully. "You sort of suck."

"You suck," Hyukkyu fires back childishly, flushing as Seungbin blatantly stares back at his lips. He leans in again, puckering shamelessly. "You could use a bit more practice."

Hyukkyu shoves him back before the kiss lands and fights the grin on his face as Seungbin makes a show of falling onto the ground, a wounded expression on his face. 

"Men," he says with a pronounced air. "Men are all the same. I knew you only wanted me for my body."

"Please," Hyukkyu cuts him off. "Martin is so much taller and-"

Seungbin shoves him back this time. “Martin isn’t the world’s best AD Carry.”

“You’re right,” Hyukkyu agrees watching the irate expression on Seungbin’s face grow. “I am.”

“In your dreams.” Seungbin rolls his eyes. “You’ll always be beneath me.”

Hyukkyu chooses to ignore the double entendre because he's a better person and will always be. "Martin thinks I'm the best."

“Come fight me for it,” Seungbin says, picking his bag off the floor. "Tomorrow night, my place. I'll bring the soju. You can bring your own tissue box."

"Is this a date?" Hyukkyu asks blankly and Seungbin shakes his head so fast his glasses nearly fall off. "Of course not, I'm going to kick your ass."

The sound of a car honking by the entrance sends Seungbin scrambling for his bags.

"I'm coming!" he shouts and then upon realizing he yelled it in Korean, crooks a grin back at Hyukkyu's direction and says- "Aww fuck it."

He leans in to wrap Hyukkyu in another tight hug and sneaks a quick kiss against his neck. 

"Don't miss your train," Hyukkyu makes a show of struggling to escape, but there's a smile on his face and he knows Seungbin can see it. "Bye imp hyung."

Hyukkyu stands back and watches the back of his head (chasing and chasing like always), as it disappears into the distance with a small bounce in his step. 

 


End file.
